Earlier this evening in London the "First Night of the Proms" took place to open the 123rd season of "The World's Greatest Classical Music Festival". Over an 8 week period many of the world's finest orchestras and performers journey to London to appear in the daily concerts.

The concert schedule is shown here . They're broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and are available on demand for 30 days on the BBC iPlayer .

As I have in previous years I'll probably occasionally bring to your attention a concert that I particularly enjoyed.

After what I thought was a rather weak start on First Night, Daniel Barenboim was conducting his Berlin Staatskapelle earlier this evening for Prom 2 and supplied plenty of musical enjoyment.

The first half featured an excellent performance of the beautiful Sibelius Violin Concerto. Following intermission the majestic Elgar 1st Symphony was played and thunderous applause led to two encores: the Sibelius Valse Triste and Elgar's Pomp and Circumstances No. 1.

There should be a music category for these posts as they do not really pertain to stereo. If not, then maybe the water cooler.

I'm pretty sure JohnK is listening to them in stereo

Seriously though, my impression was that most of the music-related threads were in the stereo forum. Probably not 100% correct but it seems like a better fit than the water cooler.

Always been here and not doing any harm.Works for me.

For Prom 5 the BBC Northern Orchestra of Wales presented a fine overall selection of music which thankfully didn't include alleged "new music" to receive its first(and undoubtedly last)public performance.

The concert opened with the rather gentle last symphony of Sibelius, the No.7. There followed the popular Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2, with its many beautiful and familiar themes.

Following intermission the massive and dramatic Shostakovich Symphony No. 10 was performed. This contains passages, particularly the angry 2nd movement, which are believed to illustrate Shostakovich's travails with the evils of the Soviet regime, specifically Stalin, who had just died.

Hey John,
As always, thanks for the information.
The Proms seem to slip my mind, appreciate the reminder.
Best, Jeff

And even better, I finally have sufficiently high speed internet that I can listen to them. Timing couldn't be better.

The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra came to London for Prom 14 and played major works by two British composers who were lifelong great friends: Holst and Vaughan Williams.

The first part of the program got off to an interesting start with the Symphony No. 9 of Vaughan Williams, his final composition. Following the intermission Holst's "The Planets", a favorite for both its dramatic and beautiful passages and often used as a sonic display piece, ended the concert.

For Proms 37 and 38 an all Rachmaninoff(my favorite composer)evening and night of glorious music was performed. Prom 37 featured the Piano Concerto No. 3, known by pianists as being fiendishly difficult in some passages. Before the concerto began, however, there was an unusual prelude in which the Latvian Radio Choir(the performers in Prom 38 later)entered the hall with chants of the Russian Orthodox liturgy. Following thunderous applause at the conclusion of the concerto, the Rachmaninoff Vocalise was performed as an encore.

After the intermission, which had an interesting discussion about the composer with music samples, the choir again began with Orthodox chants which served as a prelude to the Symphony No. 2, one of the high-water marks in musical romanticism.

For Prom 38 the Latvian choir performed his All-Night Vigil(just 1 hour!)composed for the Orthodox evening Vespers service. There were many beautiful sections for those who enjoy choral music.